Device for oiling steam-valves



3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

G. W. BAKER. Devioefor Oiling Steam-Valves. 2

No. 225,912 Patented Meir. 30 880.

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a Sheets- Sheet 2.

G. W. BAKER. Device for Oiling Steam-Valves.

No. 225,912 Patented Mar. 30, 1880.,

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8 Sheets-Sheet 3.

G. W. BAKER. Device for Oiling Steam-Valves.

No. 225,912 PatentedMar. 30, 1880.

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lNVEhIT'ElR WTNEE'EES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE W. BAKER, OF ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA.

DEVICE FOR OILING STEAM-VALVES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 225,912, dated March 30, 1880.

Application filed November 22, 1879.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE W. BAKER, of Erie, in the county of Erie and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Device for Oiling the Valves of Steam-Engines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to the construction of devices for oiling the valves of steam-engines, and known as oil-cups.

The object of my invention is to provide an oil-cup which shall act automatically, and when in use on a locomotive may be placed in the cab and operate therefrom, if desired.

My device is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, of which there are three sheets, as follows: Figure] is a side view of a locomotive with part of the cab broken away, so as to show my oil-cup in position in the cab and the pipe leading from it to the steam-chest. Fig. 2 shows my oil-cup in vertical section. Fig. 3 shows it in elevation. Fig. 4 is a vertical section of the plug which connects the pipe with the steam-chest. Fig. 5 is a crosssection on line 00 m, Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a like view on'line g y, Fig. 2. Fig. 7 is an end view of the stuffing-box cap of the throttle. Fig. 8 shows the oil-cup on the steam-chest, where it may be used, if desired. Figs. 9 and 10 show its construction when so used.

While my oil-cup is more particularly intended for use on alocomotive, it is nevertheless applicable to use on various forms of steam-engines. It is capable of being used from the cab or on the steam-chest, as I have illustrated in the drawings.

The object and scope as well as the construction and operation of my device will fully appear in the following specification and claims.

The cup proper is constructed so as to be practically air-tight, and is composed of metal disks A A, glass cylinder B, protecting metallic case B, and bolts a air a. .The disk A has a stem, A, and the disk Ahas acap, A. When the cup is used at a distance from the steam-chest, as in the cab, the stem A" has a branch,A', to which the tube M,which leads to the steam-chest, is connected. In the bottom of the cup is a strainer, G.

From the bottom of the cup downthe stem A is an orifice, d, which enters a throttlevalve chamber, 0, from which another orifice, f, leads out through the branch stem A' to the tube M.

The throttle-valve F is to regulate the flow of oil through the orifice f, and to this end it is provided with an index, which may consist of a mark, G, on the valve-stem and other marks, h, on the cap of the stufiing-box H, by which arrangement the operator can set the throttle-valve at any desired distance from the seat, and so gage the flow of oil into the orifice f.

The flow of oil, however, is not continuous, but is efl'ected by the action of the engine when running dry-that is to say, without steamas will appear.

In the orifice d, and within the bush-nut D, is located a check-valve,I, which, by a spring, is kept seated, so as to close the orifice d and prevent the flow of oil, unless acted upon from below by a force strong enough to overcome the spring.

When the oil-cup is placed in the cab I prefer to use also another check-valve, J, in the plug L on the steam-chest. These valves are shown at I in Fig. 2 and at J in Fig. 4. The check-valve I opens out of the cup, and the valve J opens out of the tube and into the valve-chamber. Each of these valves is pro- .vided with beveled seats, and with springs for keeping them seated, and when drawn back from their seats they have a back seat against a ledge below themas, for example, the valve I is shown as having its back seat upon a ledge formed on the inside of the plug D in the bush-nut D, which ledge is also the seat of the reacting-spring. The valve J is shown as having its body or flange large enough to .back-seat against a ledge formed by the inner end of the plug or bush-nut K, while the seat of the reacting spring is on another ledge formed within the plug K. Where these valves back-seat grooves should be formed either in the valve or in the ledge on which they seat. The object of these grooves is to afford a free passage for oil when the valves are drawn back on their back seats. The springs which keep the valves up against their seats should be of 100 only sufficient strength to accomplish that end. The force which shall draw them from their seats is the suction caused by the movement of the engine, and this suction will not occur to any great extent, except when the engine is running drythat is, running without steam, as, for example, on a down grade or when entering a station. This brings me to the operation of my device, which is as follows: The oil being placed in the cup, the cap is screwed down, so as to make it air-tight. The valve I retains the oil in the cup, so that none will escape therefrom, except when that valve is forced down from its seat, and that will only occur when there is a suction exerted from th steam-chest.

The tube leading from the cup enters the live-steam chamber of the steam-chest, and, of course, the valve J, when usedand if not used, the valve I-will be kept seated and closed by the pressure of the steam, even if no springs are used; but if no springs were used the valves would drop open when there was no steam on, and so the throttle F would have to be closed to prevent a flow of oil. So I apply the springs, as the device is intended to feed oil automatically when the engine is running dry, and I do not want to use the throttle except to gage the flow of oil, and the en gineer can set that by the index so as to meet the requirements.

'When a vacuum occurs below the check- Valves they will drop and allow oil to pass. This will occur when the engine is running dry. It may occur very slightly during the pulsations of the engine when running with steam; but as the oilfcup proper is substantially air-tight, the flow of oil with or by reason of the pulsations of the engine when running with steam is practically prevented. In a locomotive the jar incident to running may cause the valves to drop slightly; but practically the oil is fed only when the engine is running dry.

The springs under the valves I and J should be of such a tension as to give a delicate adjustment.

I11 order to secure a practically air-tight cup, the cap of the cup is constructed as follows: E is a soft-metal gasket, which has a stem that reaches up through an opening in the metal part of the cap, and is there held by a screw, P, which has a head wide enough to rest on a ledge, so that the screw-cap can revolve while the gasket remains set. This construction enables me to get a closer-fitting joint in the cap, because the gasket, when thus swiveled, has a slight lateral movement, and

can adjust itself to the top of the cup, and after it is set the cap can be still screwed down slightly and compress the gasket so as to give a thoroughly tight fit.

I am aware that it is common to connect the oil-cup in the cab with the steam-chest by a tube but I believe in all such cases the oil is either fed by a pressure of steam from the boiler, or by hydraulic pressure, or by the pulsations of the engine when running with steam--that is to say, by a slight suction caused by'the exhausting of steam-er else the valves are opened and the oil runs into the valve in the chest as through a funnel.

My invention is manifestly different from either of these methods, and the difference between my invention and those cups which feed as the steam exhausts consists in the fact that the cup of my device is air-tight, or sufficiently so to prevent atmospheric pressure on the oil, thus causing it tofeed only when a great suction is caused, which results when the engine is running dry, for then the piston of the engine is serving as the piston of an air-pump. Thus it is my device acts automatically, and only acts when the engine is running without steam, as when going on a down grade or when running into a station, which is often enough to supply the proper amount of oil, the trouble being with almost every form of cup now in use that it feeds too much oil and wastes it.

I am aware that in the deviceshown in Patent N 0. 157,992 the inventors intend that oil shall only be fed to the valve when the engine is running with steam shut off; but the oil-cup there shown is declared not to be airtight, and hence the tension of the spring which sustains the valve is relied upon to prevent the valve dropping during the pulsations of the engine; and as a further precaution, to

prevent too rapid a use of oil, a chamber over the valve is supplied with oil by a wick, and only the oil thus supplied can be used; but by having the oil-cup practically air-tight, or as air-tight as possible, the suction of the engine when running dry has to act against a vacuum oil-cup, and there is no danger of too great a quantity of oil escaping, especially as the throttle regulates both the flow of oil after it passes the check-valve and the amount of suction that is exerted against the checkvalve.

WhatI claim is as follows:

1. An oiling device for steam-engine valves, &c., consisting of a substantially air-tight oilcup, a conduit. leading from said cup to the valve-chamber, and one or more check-valves and a throttle-valve located in said conduit, said check-valves opening toward the valvechamber, and operating substantially as described, whereby the flow of oil from said cup to said valve'chamber is effected when said check-valves are drawn down by the suction caused by the movement of the engine when the steam is shut off, all substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with the oil-cup and the orifice cl, leading therefrom, of the plug or bush-nut D D, forming a cage for the checkvalve I and its accompanying spring, substantially as shown.

3. An oiling device for the steam-valves of locomotives, consisting of the combination, substantially as described, of the following elements: an airtight oil-reservoir having a stem, in which is located a check-valve opening out of said reservoir, and a throttle-valve for regulating the size of the opening in said stem.

4. An oiling devicefor the steam-Valves of and connected therewith by a plug, in which 10 locomotives, consisting of the combination, is located a second check-valve opening into substantially as described, of the following elethe said steam-chest. ments: an air-tight oil-reservoir having a stem In testimony whereof I, the said GEORGE or conduit leading therefrom, in which is 10- W. BAKER, have hereunto set my hand. cated a check-valve opening out of said reser- GEORGE W. BAKER. voir into said conduit, a throttle-valve for reg- Witnesses: ulating the size of said conduit, a tube eXtend- J NO. K. HALLOCK, ing from the above devices to the steam-chest, G. F. DEAN. 

